


The One Who Ends Up in Trouble

by deathbyspaceglam



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: (mostly), Childhood Memories, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Canon, kids being kids, the FN corps are children in the first scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 00:19:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14272740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathbyspaceglam/pseuds/deathbyspaceglam
Summary: Finn reflects on a childhood memory.





	The One Who Ends Up in Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> ~~I was getting emotional over Finn/Moses parallels, as one does, while planning for this week, and this was inspired by the chariot race scene in PoE~~ listen what if something like this happened  
>  Title from PoE

“Can’t this thing go any faster?” yelled FN-2003, punching the controls in frustration.

“Maybe it would if you didn’t keep punching the brake,” FN-2000 jeered as his snowspeeder passed FN-2003’s.

“Come on, you guys, give Slip a chance,” said FN-2199, frantically speeding up to stay ahead. “He always falls behind in training anyway.”

“Hey!” called FN-2187, carefully weaving between his friends’ speeders. “Don’t be so mean to him. He’s doing his best.”

Technically, the FN corps were supposed to be studying for an upcoming weapons exam, but it was one of those rare occasions when their superiors weren’t keeping a constant eye on them. To make the most of it, they were having a snowspeeder race.

The wind all around, the feeling of going _fast. _It was exhilarating. FN-2187 only wished he could take his helmet off, feel a cool blast of ice wind in his face.__

__“Watch this!” called FN-2000. There was a tree right ahead of him. At the last possible second, he swerved to avoid it, looping once around the tree before continuing along the race track._ _

__“Oh yeah?” Slip retorted. “I can do that too, you know. Watch me!” He came close to the tree, then swerved-_ _

__-and smashed right into it._ _

__FN-2187 immediately put his speeder down and got out. As he did so, he heard two other crashes from the distance- his other two friends must have turned back to see the crash and lost track of their own vehicles. He ran towards where Slip had fallen._ _

__The front of the speeder had smashed into the tree. Slip was leaning unconscious over the edge of the seat, his helmet still on. FN-2187 pulled the helmet off his friend and felt his nose and mouth for warm breath. Good, he was still breathing._ _

__“What are the two of you doing out here?”_ _

___Oh, no._ FN-2187 gulped and turned around to see Captain Phasma standing behind him, chrome-plated arms crossed under her cape. “I- I can explain. We were just-”_ _

__“Shirking your responsibilities and destroying speeders?”_ _

__Shuffling in the snow. FN-2187’s other friends were approaching now. He could see them, hiding behind a tree and giggling behind their hands as they watched him be yelled at by a superior._ _

__“You two! Get over here.”_ _

__Realizing they’d been spotted, FN-2000 and FN-2199 dragged their feet to where Captain Phasma stood. “Yes, Captain.”_ _

__“Explain what the four of you are doing out here and why three of our speeders have sustained damage.”_ _

__“It was his idea!” said Nines, pointing at FN-2187. “He was bored of studying, so he convinced us all to do a speeder race with him!”_ _

__“And you listened to him,” Phasma said in accusation. “You allowed him to pull you away from your own studies, so you could recklessly mishandle these speeders.”_ _

__The two of them hung their heads. “Yes, Captain.”_ _

__\---_ _

__Come to think of it, that day had probably marked the turning point in his relationship with the other cadets. Of course, Finn reflected, it hadn’t been that incident alone. But the fact that the other three had been given a week’s worth of additional maintenance detail while he had only been given two days’ worth, coupled with how much better he’d scored on exams than them… it was little wonder they’d grown to resent him. _Just like Phasma probably wanted,_ he thought bitterly._ _

__He couldn’t be angry forever. He shouldn’t be. The First Order was long behind him now. He was in the Resistance now, with better friends and fair superiors who didn’t sow discord among their ranks. And yet…_ _

__“You okay, buddy?”_ _

__Poe had just gotten back to their shared quarters and was wrapping a blanket over Finn’s shoulders. His eyes were wide with concern._ _

__“It’s nothing,” said Finn. “Just thinking about… old stuff.”_ _

__“Old stuff? Like, from before?”_ _

__“...Yeah.” There was no point in hiding anything from Poe. His face exuded comfort, his arms security, and he only wanted the best for Finn anyway._ _

__“Want to talk about it?”_ _

__“It’s really stupid,” said Finn, rolling his eyes. “One time when we were cadets, my… well, they were my friends at the time, and one day we ditched studying for a snowspeeder race. They got in more trouble than me. I think that might have been the first thing to make them… well, we weren’t exactly friends by the time we went to Jakku.” He gritted his teeth. “Kriffing Phasma…”_ _

__Poe sighed and closed his eyes. Finn leaned against him, and Poe wrapped his arm more tightly around Finn’s shoulders._ _

__“...you know,” said Finn, “I’ve always wanted to do something like that without the armor and helmet.”_ _

__\---_ _

__Several months later, Finn had his hands over his eyes._ _

__“Can I look now?” he asked as Poe and Rey led him onward._ _

__“Not yet,” said Poe. “And no peeking.”_ _

__They continued to walk, stopping only briefly. There were slight shifts in the others’ arms around his shoulders and waist._ _

__“Can I look now?” he asked again._ _

__“Not yet, but almost,” said Poe. They turned one last corner and the others let go. “Now you can look.”_ _

__Finn removed the hands from his eyes. In front of him were three speeders. “No way,” he gasped. “This was the surprise?”_ _

__Poe nodded. “You said you wanted to race, so I got us all a reservation here for today. Don’t worry, this place is Resistance-friendly. At least, now it is.” He handed Finn an open-face helmet much like the ones the Resistance used. “I know you said no helmet, but this place does have safety rules, and-”_ _

__Finn pressed a hasty kiss to his lips. “Poe,” he said, catching his breath, “this is the best surprise you could have given me.”_ _

**Author's Note:**

> ~~OH my NEW THING I am SO UPSET~~


End file.
